It’s the 99% not the 1%
Hear Me Out
It’s time to take responsibility for an age-old problem that keeps repeating itself over and over again. How do a few powerful people get to claim all the spoils, leaving everybody else with the crumbs that fall from the table? It’s been happening for so long that it appears to be the result of a glitch in our big brains.
I call it big-brain malfunction.
We seem to need — no, demand — a big daddy, whether it’s the big daddy in the sky that the religious worship or an earthly equivalent that we defend with our very lives. If that rather baffling behavior is merely hardwired into our brains, however, then that would explain a lot. Otherwise, I’m left wondering what in the name of Lucifer we’re thinking when we turn our lives over to a leader with the ultimate trust of a newborn baby.
For some reason we adore bullies.
It doesn’t require a genius to realize that these leaders are only able to thrive because we choose them to be our big daddies. One frail little man could not become a tyrant without the support of the masses. We put them in power. We respond to their messages and promises. We turn everything over to them and trust that they’ll answer our prayers.
It’s ludicrous when you think about it, isn’t it?
Why is it so easy to blame the 1% when, in reality, the 99% massively outnumbers them? It makes no sense that they hold on to their power while we just sit and take it; even worse, we choose it. We literally hand over our power and elect some pretty bad guys to be the leaders of the day. There’s nothing new about that. It’s a well-known fact that a fairly large percentage of people who actively pursue the life of a leader are psychopaths or sociopaths. They are driven to manipulate, cheat, and lie their way into the highest positions of the tribe in a way that the rest of us simply can’t fathom.
Why doesn’t that scare us?
We continue to live our simple lives, trying to just get by, while they’re aspiring to a very different life. Sadly, we never seem to catch on. Even when you have two parties with big daddies competing for the same position of power, the 99% will valiantly defend their big daddy as though that person is literally part of the family. You simply can’t say something derogatory about their candidate without offending them — almost like when we become defensive about a family member.
Yet, we often find common ground when we complain about the 1%.
Don’t get me wrong. The 1% share a long list of despicable behaviors, from greed to elitism to gluttony and ostentatious wealth. Their money allows them an inordinate amount of power; they can literally influence the government with their limitless stash of cash. Yet, in the end, we can’t unite — not even to save our own asses.
You see, we hate the 1%, but we want to be the 1%.
It’s hard to explain, but in a world where money is the only gauge by which we determine a person’s value, we may say we despise the greedy CEOs, but whenever we think we have a chance to marry into money, date someone with money, inherit money, or even be in the same room with someone with money, we swoon.
Ugh!
When you combine those two traits — the need for a big daddy and the desire to be the 1% — it’s pretty hard to overthrow the psychopath. It’s far easier to vote for the psychopath and hope he’ll fix everything for us. Because there is something about the psychopath that draws us into their web of promises. We admire their toughness. It makes us feel safe. So once again, we don’t unite, even if we outnumber them a thousandfold.
Oh, and by the way, psychopaths know that we outnumber them, but they trust their well-honed skills to manipulate the 99%. Historically, their type has gained power and wealth by doing just that. One man, one fragile human being, a mere mortal, does not become powerful without the support of a huge portion of the 99%.
Can you even imagine a world where the 99% united?
The 1% can imagine it, and it terrifies them. That’s why they keep us distracted with misinformation, blaming a minority group for our problems, and spreading propaganda that keeps us divided and fighting with one another.
It’s a psychological trick that works every damn time.
If we ever did take responsibility for our own futures, life might change. The odds might be in favor of the unwashed masses for a change. But I’m not holding my breath, that’s for sure.
Nor should you.
Teresa is an author and professional myth buster. You can find her books on Amazon.
